Carried Skeleton
by yastaghr
Summary: A story following Papyrus and Sans as children and just prior to the game. Features older sibling Chara, older brother Asriel, and more.
1. Chapter 1

The pan-carrying human didn't know what the statue in the rain meant when they put the umbrella on it. They didn't know who it memorialized. They didn't know how long it had been there. They didn't know how hard it hurt the small skeleton following their every footstep to walk past it. They didn't know that he stopped there and stared for some time.

Well, he didn't stare so much as he cried. Cried for a family long gone. Cried for a mother who he'd barely known and another he could only speak with, unrecognised. Cried for a father long dead and another he would walk by every day, but could never bring himself to speak too. Cried for a brother lasting in a coma after something tried to push him off a cliff and another whose dust had been mistreated in the name of science. Cried for the scientist no one knew who would have been horrified at what he had done.

But more than anything, Sans cried for the human he had known so long ago and the promise he had made to them. He cried for the promise that clashed so much with another, more recent. He cried with the voice that was his only remembrance besides this rain-worn statue that he could hardly bear to look at.

* * *

Chara peeked out from behind Toriel's apron and examined the small monsters before them. Normally, no monster came to the house outside of visiting hours - at least, they hadn't since Chara's fears had been uncovered. This had to be an emergency, then, and by the looks of it, it was.

"I do apologize for coming at such a late hour, Your Majesty, but I am afraid there was little other choice. Their parents succumbed to their injuries a few hours ago, and they have no other relatives except-"

"Our Royal Scientist. Yes. I understand. We cannot place such young children in the care of a monster who is known to pass out from forgetful starvation on a regular basis."

"Indeed. There is also the matter of their magic."

The human could feel their mother's scowl heating the air.

"Babybones' magic is notoriously unpredictable. I do not see how it can be a problem for an orphanage as esteemed as yours."

"We are...not prepared to deal with the kind of forces at play here. Both children have their family's traditional bicolored blue magic in spades. The elder also possesses healing magic, albeit untrained, and the younger shows signs of purple magic as well as yellow."

Toriel's scowl lessened, "Ah. That is quite impressive. And I know the other orphanages are just as full as you with casualties from the cave in. Yes," here she paused to take a look down at Chara, who gave her a firm nod, "I believe we can manage two more. Give the baby to me."

The monster passed over a small swaddled form to the Queen. He babbled in his relief.

"They have been very quiet children, apart from the magic. Sans has hardly cried at all, and Papyrus has been doing quite well on his own. From what we can gather, their parents were working to sure up the emergency tunnel when another rockslide hit. Poor things. I doubt the youngster will have any firm memories at all. The elder is very friendly. Aren't you, Papyrus?"

A foot away from the orphanage monster, and staring at them with simple interest, was a skeleton kid. He looked a little bit shorter than Chara did, which obviously meant that they were older than him. That meant he would be their younger sibling. They liked that idea. They'd never had a younger sibling before, and they were looking forward to it.

The skeleton kid looked over at them and smiled hugely. There was a gap between his two front teeth. They liked that. They liked the outthrust hand he waved at them a lot less. Hand shaking was weird to them.

"HI! MY NAME ITH PAPYRUTH. WHATH YOURTH?"

They tilted their head at him, then looked up at Toriel. She gave them an encouraging smile.

"My name is Chara."

Papyrus beamed. Then he stumbled over to them and gave them a hug.

The expression they shot their mother was a lot more desperate. Toriel just smiled down at them. Papyrus snuggled in closer.

They decided, in that moment, that it was going to be their job to protect this cute little sibling for all eternity.

* * *

"And you say both their parents were killed in the cave-in?"

Asgore eyed the older skeleton playing with their son sadly. He could not help but notice that Chara was watching them as well. Their emotions appeared mixed, but they weren't clinging to Asriel as they had in the past. That, as far as Asgore was concerned, was a benediction.

"Yes, and both brothers' magic is complex and unstable. Enough so that we are the best and only option they have."

The King's eyes drifted down to the bundle in his arms. The small amount of skull visible in the fabric was rounded and puffed. He was suddenly lost in a flash of history, when a similar rounded face, albeit fluffier, had been cradled in his arms. The blanket then had been green, not blue. The expression had been the same.

Before he knew it, his other hand had come up to brush the toddler's face. The body wriggled. Then white eyelids lifted up and the illusion was lost.

Black sockets blinked at him. More wiggling commenced, and soon a small, boney hand was reaching up at him. As Sans' skull was smaller than Asgore's hand, his entire hand was the size of Asgore's fingernail. Nevertheless, he was trying to grip the finger Asgore offered with all his tiny strength.

Asgore's smile was as big as a star. He wiggled his finger ever so slightly, and his reward was a pair of bright, happy eye lights manifesting in the child's socket.

"Gorey you are adorable. I believe we must keep them, if only so I can watch you turn into an absolute fool over a toddler again."

He looked up, only slightly embarrassed at being caught being so cute.

"Yes, dear. I think we should. After all, Chara seems to approve, and the children really could do with more playmates."

Toriel's smile was altogether too amused. He coughed and turned his attention back on the playing children. His jaw dropped open when he realised that the boys had managed to draw Chara into their game.

"I believe they have adopted Papyrus in the same manner they have our son. We may have a hard times separating the three."

Asgore smiled, his gaze moving from the sight before him to the toddler in his arms with equal warmth bestowed on both.

"You know, I do not think I am going to mind."


	2. Chapter 2

"SANS!"

The smaller skeleton stuck his skull out of his bedroom, left hand rubbing the tears of his face. The last RESET had been a doozy. Pap had gotten hurt just before the sixth human had come through. They'd gotten killed like always, and then that weird flower asked to stay with Sans for a bit. He couldn't think of a reason to say no, so for about two weeks he had a roommate. Then Pap had been dusted in the hospital because of a mistake in his medicine. Sans had been deep in grief. Then he woke up back here.

"yeah, bro?"

"I'M GOING TO PICK UP SOME MORE OF YOUR SMOOTHIES. WHAT FLAVORS DO YOU WANT?"

Okay. They were back at the beginning, it seemed. That was nice. He didn't have to keep track of a new variation.

"can i have some strawberry?"

"OF COURSE, BROTHER! ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT USUALLY WANT THAT FLAVOR. IS SOMETHING WRONG?"

Crud. He wasn't supposed to ask for strawberry until next week. But he really wanted that comfort that came with drinking the first flavor his big sib had given him.

"nah. just feel like it."

Downstairs, Sans thought he saw Papyrus wince, and then radiate sympathy. He must have imagined it, because the next second Pappy was smiling like he always did.

"OKAY. PLEASE TRY NOT TO FALL ASLEEP AT YOUR STATION WHILE I'M GONE. I DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH YOUR WEIRD SICK TASTE BUDS."

Sans grinned. He always did that today, despite Pap's warning.

"I'll try, bro. no promises."

Papyrus sighed. He always did. Then he walked over to the door and-

Hesitated. He never hesitated, but Sans had messed up, so it could happen.

"YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING, RIGHT?"

Sans' sockets widened, "of course. me too."

Papyrus smiled his usual smile, "GOOD. HAVE A NICE DAY!"

And with that, he was gone, leaving Sans to wonder what about asking for strawberry had made his brother change.

* * *

Chara rubbed their eyes with their free hand as Papyrus dragged them down the night-dark hallway. He'd sworn them to silence before they left the room. He hasn't brought Asriel, probably because the needy crybaby would have whined and protested all the way. He had something to show them and nothing would do but they hurry _right now_ to go see it.

Their little brother came to a sudden stop outside the living room. He held a finger to his mouth. They nodded. Then both of them leaned in and listened hard.

"I don't know what it could be, Tori. We've tried everything we could think of to tempt him, but he won't open his mouth for anything. He won't eat, and he's wasting away."

Chara's eyes went wide. They turned to Papyrus, who just looked so sad. Her loved his little brother, even if the toddler was a smiley trashbag who never cried. He must be worried sick about him.

"I have called the doctor; she believes it may be a problem with his jaw. Apparently it runs in the family. She grew up with the Revenants - two of their three children died from the condition. It would also explain why he does not make much noise. He is in constant pain such that he would not like to speak. She is amazed he has lived this long."

"Is there nothing we can do for him?" Their dad sounded heartbroken.

"I am afraid not."

Papyrus looked about to cry. Chara felt angry. How dare they give up so easily? She could think of a dozen foods from the surface that Sans would still be able to eat. That wasn't even including baby food.

They were so mad that they forgot themself enough to storm into the living room. Their parents started at them with open mouths. Sans was in Asgore's left arm. The other was holding a big piece of cheese. Toriel stood to his left. She had the barest hint of tears in her eyes. Their little brother had followed them in. He stopped tugging on their arm when he realised they'd been spotted.

"There are lots of human foods that he can eat. If you put magic in them like you do my chocolate, then he'll be fine."

Their dad's face lifted in hope. Papyrus' excitement radiated into their back. Their mom's expression was more mixed.

"I should be scolding you for eavesdropping right now, children. However, if what you say is true, I shall have to thank you. Please explain what foods you mean."

Chara's cleared their throat, their confidence vanishing. Mom sounded mad, and nothing good ever came from an adult being mad.

"Chara," they turned to their father, who looked much less intimidating, especially considering that Sans was drooling blue magic all over his shirt, "Please. We need your help."

The thought of helping their family be safe and healthy- it filled them with determination.

"There's a thing on the surface called baby food. You can put just about anything in it, but then you blend it up until it's liquid. Then recently they started putting it in squeezable pouch thingies. That way you don't need a spoon. You can also do the same thing with fruits and sugar and juice and stuff. Then you drink it out of a straw- a really narrow tube of plastic. That's called a smoothie."

They heaved in a huge breath, having spoken the whole speech without pausing. When they opened their eyes, both Mom and Dad were staring at them.

"I do not know about this blending action you speak of. Is there a specific device involved?"

Chara smiled and nodded, "It's likes a big cup with a lid, only the bottom has a small, round set of blades that spin really fast and chop everything up really, really small."

"Hmm," Toriel looked thoughtful, "I believe I might have seen something like that in the garbage dump. Perhaps our Royal Scientist can make it work?"

Papyrus, speaking for the first time since the two had come into the room, clapped and smiled wide.

"UNCLE GATHTER! HE'LL HELP. HE LIKETH THANTH!"

Toriel smiled down at him, "Oh he does, does he? Then I am sure he will put all his energy into building this," she sighed, her expression growing slightly peeved, "He usually does."

Chara giggled. Gaster was a common subject of their mom's rants. Apparently he didn't take care of himself, was super messy, and very scatterbrained. But he was also a brilliant Scientist and super fond of kids. He'd figured out how to make chocolate grow Underground when he'd heard they liked it.

"We shall have to make a trip to see him tomorrow."

Asgore nodded. Chara was secretly pleased to see him nuzzle Sans gently. Dad was happy, and Sans really liked it too. He would nudge Asgore back even in his sleep. It was adorable.

"In the meantime, you two must go back to bed. You will need all your energy tomorrow, so a good night's rest is important. And do not think I have forgiven you for eavesdropping. We shall talk about it in the morning."

Chara and Papyrus both hung their heads.

"YETH, MITH TORIEL," Papyrus answered. Chara just nodded. Her new little brother hadn't sat through one of Mom's lectures yet. He had no idea what he was in for. They did.

The whole walk back to their room, Papyrus alternated between skipping and giggling, then hushing himself and acting really nervous. It was kinda funny. He was clearly so excited that his brother was going to be okay, but also worried about the lecture tomorrow. They doubted he'd be able to sleep.

Once they got into their room, Chara helped their little brother climb into his bed. Once he was settled, if vibrating slightly, they climbed up the brand-new bunk bed above Asriel and buried under the covers. They liked being under the covers. It felt safe.

Silence ruled the crowded bedroom for the few minutes it took for Mom and Dad to finish talking and head off to bed. Everyone breathed in the darkness just a little bit longer- just to be sure. Nothing happened.

"Alright Paps. _Now_ will you tell me what you needed Chara for?"


	3. Chapter 3

While Papyrus was on his way to the Capitol to get groceries, Sans ambled over towards Grillby's for breakfast. As much as he loved his brother and wanted to encourage his interests, eating the blended form of Papyrus' spaghetti was effectively a death sentence. Even the Annoying Dog wouldn't eat the stuff, although Sans had noticed the dishes were beginning to actually smell. The fact that it hadn't before was deeply concerning.

He hadn't even made it off the front porch when a familiar (although not in this timeline yet) vine wrapped around his right leg. Sans stopped moving. He liked his leg a lot, thank you very much.

"Where are you going, Sansy?"

The skeleton shrugged. Flowey's vine around his leg tightened so much it hurt. He yelped and pulled his foot out of the suddenly loosened hold.

On closer examination, his bones only had two microfractures, one each on his tibia and fibula. It would hurt, but he didn't need to see a healer right away.

"I didn't mean to do that," Sans couldn't place the odd tone of the other's voice.

When Sans looked around to try and see the flower's face, the only sign that there had ever been anyone there was the green stain around his ankle and a hole in the snow.

* * *

Chara _hated_ walking because it hurt their feet. Toriel said that it would feel better once their skin began to toughen up again. They weren't sure if they believed it. They'd had to walk so far when…

(not going to think about it not going to think about it)

Moving on. Literally - Asgore had finally finished talking to the elderly spider-monster, so they could leave and _not be stared at_. Being stared at was another of Chara's least favorite activities. It was better now. Monsters didn't feel like they were always judging, and that meant the human child didn't feel like they'd somehow failed. Failure wasn't… They didn't want to fail ever again.

Asriel said monsters weren't like that, but they weren't sure they believed him. No one could be that nice, right? Well, Asriel could, but he was different. He was still a kid; he hadn't learned better. The same went for Papyrus. Sans wasn't old enough to tell yet. Mom and Dad were under consideration.

Chara couldn't help but worry about the fact that they were heading towards a monster who was very much unknown. Yeah, he'd figured out how to make chocolate grow. That was nice. Mom said he was really clumsy and eager to please. But Dad said he'd been on the Surface during the War. He might not be happy to see a human.

Maybe he'd just decided not to see them? Mom had been knocking on the white doors for a long time. Chara had tried to hide, too, back then. It hadn't worked.

Speaking of hiding, Chara noticed that Papyrus had shuffled up to their back. Through the hissing of steam from the magma below they could just hear his bones rattling under the fleecy blanket. That wasn't a good sign. Why was their little brother scared? No one should be allowed to scare their little brother!

They unhooked their hands from behind their back and held one out to Papyrus. A few seconds later, he latched onto it.

"THANKTH, CHARA. UNCLE GATHTER ITH NITHE, ITH JUTHT...HE TALKTH WEIRD. IT HURTH MY EARTH."

Oh. That made sense. They'd seen some of the Whimsalots flinch when Dad and Pap spoke, and they hated when Mom would use her mortar and pestle. Noises could just feel wrong sometimes. Papyrus must really love his baby brother if he was willing to go see someone whose voice hurt him to hear.

Speaking of which, the door to the lab finally cracked. The sound its hinges made as they fought the tough terrain to open would have hurt anyone's ears. They had proof! All three boss monsters pulled their ear flaps flat against their heads, Papyrus flinched, Chara slapped their palms over their ears, and Sans whimpered. Inside the barely-open doors, a very weird voice swore. Toriel shot it a glare.

Sorry about that. The cave-in did quite a number on the door frames. I can't believe I forgot this one. People have probably…

The door finally opened enough for a slim skull to poke through and gape. Chara's pupils widened. They'd been expecting someone scary, dark, and, well, evil. Instead, they got a pathetically blushing skeleton. He had kitty bandaids leading haphazardly up from his left eye and doggy ones going down from his half-closed right. He had what was probably coffee stains dripping down from his mouth. There was also a sticky note stuck to his forehead. It said 'I owe my team a new hamsterball'. He was about as far from scary as you could get.

Yorick made me eat a muffin this morning!

Asgore doubled over in a coughing fit. Gaster tore his eyes away from Toriel's amused glare to give the king a worried look.

Are you sick? Are you okay? Do you need a drink? I think I have coffee somewhere. Should I-

"Wingdings."

The panic stopped. Chara felt Papyrus' death grip on their hand lessen. They still couldn't move it, but at least they weren't worried about getting a bruise.

Yes?

"Please move out of the way so I can destroy the door."

Gaster's skull jumped about two feet up in the air before vanishing back behind the door. Mom's fireball (they'd never get bored of watching her do that) obliterated the door.

Standing several feet behind the now smoking hole was Gaster. His clothes actually fit what Chara was expecting out of a scientist better than his face did. Admittedly the left sleeve of his lab coat was slightly greener than the rest and his feet were clad in mismatched slippers, but still. Black slacks, black turtleneck sweater, white lab coat - it was like the recipe for a classic evil scientist! Not that classic evil scientists would turn their back to an explosion, hunch down, and cover their ears.

Papyrus, being the cheery doormat that he was, broke his grip on their hand to walk over to the shivering scientist and glomp onto him. Gaster's reaction was...weird. He made some kind of weird noise, and then his arms were somehow behind him, and then Papyrus was inside the huddle and sneezing? Also Gaster was sneezing. Why was everyone sneezing? When a draft of air sucked some of the powdered door out of the laboratory and into their nostrils, Chara had their answer.

Mom ignored both the sneezing and the bone huddle. She walked through the wreckage of a doorway she'd just created; every other step she'd bend over to pick up some sharpened and superheated shred of metal to be discarded later. Chara hoped Papyrus hadn't gotten any pieces stuck in his shoes. At least Asriel wouldn't get any in his paws. Thanks, Mom.

Dad followed her, carefully putting his paws in the same spaces she had. He wobbled a bit, but despite that he didn't drop the sleeping bundle in his arms. Was Sans sleeping? It was hard to tell. He seemed a lot less noisy than human babies. Thank the gods.

Asriel copied him. He probably thought it was a game. He looked like he thought it was a game. Chara just shuffled their boots so that nothing could go under them.

Mom led her trail of ducklings obliviously over to some boxes. There were maybe ten of them in maybe three dozen colors. Some were stacked and others were open. Three had some ragged couch cushions on top. They hung over the edges a bit, but they were probably safe. Probably.

Mom seemed to have more confidence than they did. She settled onto one half of the largest of the boxes, one of those double long ones. There was enough room for her and Dad up there, but Asriel insisted on taking Chara's hand and leading the human over to the shortest of the makeshift furnitures. Dad took his seat next to Mom with the minimum of fussing.

Papyrus and Gaster had finally run out of sneeze to give, it seemed. Papyrus had his hand laced with the much larger skeleton's and was dragging him over to the crates. Gaster was bent in two and then some in order for Papy to do this, but the scientist didn't seem to mind. He was staring Mom while also trying not to meet her eyes. Green beads were beginning to form on his forehead.

"It is alright, Doctor. I am not here to lecture you on your eating habits this time. It is someone else's eating habits which are the problem. Sans', in fact."

Gaster's face became even more worried and much more serious. He turned his sockets from the blank walls to the bundle in Asgore's hands. How can I help?

Toriel pulled the answer out of her inventory. She had insisted on stopping at the dump first. Chara had been the one to spot the blender. Unfortunately it looked like someone had taken out their anger with a hammer. The pitcher was cracked and gaping in two places. The electronics were pulled out and shredded. One of the buttons was missing entirely.

"Sans' jaw seems to be causing him a great deal of pain. He will not open it even to eat. Chara informed us that this device," Toriel brandished the wreckage, "Can chop up solid foods so finely that they become liquid. Then-"

Really? Chara swung their feet and avoided Gaster's gaze. I just- a way to make food liquid...I suppose the inherent fluids would help...I should have- no. I won't...but Sans has the defect, so now...

He reached out one hand. Chara noticed the bandages around it. They were sparkly. Then his hand lit up with lime-green fire. Well, not exactly fire. It was like someone had outlined a drawing or picture of fire, then erased the fire until only the outlines remained. The same not-fire encased the broken blender. It floated freely out of Toriel's hand and wobbled over to hover in front of the scientist. He immediately began prodding it, examining the cracking, inspecting the wiring, and just generally trying to figure the thing out.

Suddenly, Gaster turned on his heel, the blender rotating with him, and muttered his way over to a table shoved up against the wall. He set it down amidst more bits of machinery and electronics than Chara had ever seen before. Then he started digging through the heap without any regard for the oil slick that was staining his injured hand. He seemed to have forgotten that their family was there.

Mom stood up. Her face told Chara that this was far from the first time Mom had the Royal Scientist completely forget she existed. She helped Asriel and Chara down from their box. Asgore stood up, Sans still beaming up at him. Papyrus was reluctantly convinced to stand up. Then the whole family went home, sure in the knowledge that Gaster would fix the blender eventually. Probably. Well, Mom was certain. Chara would just have to trust that she was right.


	4. Chapter 4

Papyrus heard that tell-tale shlop of earth shifting and braced himself not to turn around. He liked Flowey, but he didn't like having to do the same thing over and over again. Still, he suspected that if he _didn't_ repeat himself it would get even worse. Much worse.

"Howdy!" Flowey said.

That was Papyrus' cue to turn around and say, "OH. HELLO THERE. I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WERE ANY FLOWER MONSTERS IN SNOWDIN. ARE YOU NEW HERE?"

Flowey mumbled, "Um, yeah," then he put on his worried face and asked, "Do you know the small skeleton on the edge of town between Waterfall and Snowdin?"

Papyrus nodded, hiding his confusion in the quick motion. Flowey hadn't asked about Sans last time. Why would he? He'd met Sans timelines ago.

Flowey said, "I was practicing my trap-making earlier and accidentally caught him. He got hurt."

"How bad?" Papyrus rushed the end of Flowey's sentence. Sans had a very low maximum health count and it was too early in the run for him to have stored up much extra from sleep.

Flowey hedged, "Not bad, no, not bad, but I didn't want him to get worse just because I can't use healing magic. Can you help?"

Papyrus hesitated. Sans was hurt, he should go, but...they were almost out of groceries. He wouldn't have anything to feed Sans if he didn't get the groceries. Welp, he could ask Flowey. He'd asked Flowey to look after Sans while he was stuck in the hospital last run. He didn't think Flowey had let him down, and this was a lot less difficult, so-

Papyrus asked, "We're almost out of food at the house. I'll need healing food for when I've finished fixing him. If I give you the money and the shopping list, would you pick them up for me?"

Flowey nodded. Papyrus handed him the shopping list. When Flowey scanned it, he bristled. Papyrus wasn't sure why, not 100%. It might just be that Flowey didn't like tomatoes, or that he'd been told about Sans' smoothie thing last time. Papyrus doubted that. He'd had a theory developing for a few timelines now, a theory that Flowey had some of Asriel's memories, or even was some kind of twisted remnant of their big brother.

He'd asked Alphys and found out about the flowers from Dad's garden (thinking about Dad hurt. He missed Dad, and he didn't understand why they couldn't go back and live with him). She'd told him about experimenting on them. And Flowey had a lot of Asriel's mannerisms. Sometimes he knew things he had no right knowing. But Papyrus wasn't certain, and even when he was, he wouldn't act unless Flowey chose to confide in him. He hoped he would. The pain from losing his brother and his sibling had never really gone away. Getting one of them back would be worth it.

* * *

The crack that sounded in the quiet room made everyone freeze. It was followed by a whimper. Then everyone turned to the sound. Sans, who had been playing over by the bookcase, was now sprawled on his front with a right angle bend in his right femur. It looked like he had tried to climb the shelves, but had fallen down. He was just beginning to pull himself up things and drag himself along them. He wasn't even walking! How could he have gotten high enough off the ground to break his leg?

Asriel was the first to move. He jumped down from the table. He and Papyrus had been playing with some crayons. He wiped away some tears as he rushed over to his youngest brother. Small, furry hands picked Sans up carefully, trying hard not to jostle the bones.

Papyrus came over as well. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and tied it around the bone fragments so they wouldn't bleed out. Then he pulled out another and used it to wipe off some of Sans' tears. He kept wiping as the Asriel started walking off towards the front yard. When they got out, Toriel was trying to coax the now teenaged Chara out of the big tree.

Asriel called out, "Mom! Sans hurt himself!"

Both Toriel and Chara turned. When they saw the blood-stained rag, Toriel immediately ran over and Chara dropped down from the tree. Toriel knelt down and picked Sans up. Papyrus untied the handkerchief and let her see the break. It went clean through the bone. Chara hissed.

Toriel said, "Oh, dear. Chara, can you get me some small, straight branches from the tree? Asriel, you can get me a bowl of water from the sink. Papyrus, can you go get me the red kit with the white cross on it from under the bathroom sink? Good. Now, Sans?"

The little toddler looked up at her, tears in his eye sockets.

"I want you to squeeze my finger. Can you do that? Squeeze it nice and hard. That's it, now squeeeeeeeze and-"

"hng!" Sans whimpered as Toriel snapped the bone back in line.

She murmured softly in his ear, "Good job, Sans. No more hurting - see? All done. May I heal it now?"

He glares at her, suspicious. She holds her smile. He looks down at his leg, then back at her. Then he nods.

Toriel hummed a quiet little tune as she hovered her hands just above the break. A green, healing fire surrounded the break. It was slightly warm and perfectly safe to stick your hand in.

The Queen frowned as the healing magic fizzled out so quickly. Sans' leg was still broken. She tried lighting the magical fire again. It slid off the bone. Toriel's frown deepened. Sans could not possibly be at full HP already, could he? She checked him.

"Sans"

"The easiest enemy. Can only deal 1 damage."

1 LV

1 / 1 HP

90 / 90 MP

AT: 1 (0)

DF: 1 (-1)

EXP: 0

NEXT: 10

WEAPON: None

ARMOUR: None (Injured!)

GOLD: 0

Toriel sat down hard, her head spinning. It felt like the floor was falling out from underneath her. 1 HP. 1 HP. Sans, her adorable, curious little Sans, had a maximum of 1 HP. What had she done wrong? How had she failed him? He'd been with them for only six years, but 1 HP… most children had a minimum of 20. How had he ended up so fragile? Was it all the time he had been unable to eat? Was there something in his diet that he was missing? How could her child have become so low?

"Mom. I brought the sticks. Do you really need them if you're just going to heal him?"

Toriel turned to Chara, tears in her eyes. "I already did, my child. It seems that Sans has a low maximum HP. Very low. In fact, I have never seen one lower. He only has 1 HP."

Chara tilted their head. "Um...HP? That sounds like something out of a video game."

Papyrus stumbled his way over to them with the first aid kit that was a third as big as he was. It was a good thing it was padded, because he dropped it onto the ground without thinking.

Toriel smiled weakly and said, "It is something like that, yes. HP is short for HOPE, which in turn is short for Health Or Physical Elevation. It is a way of quantifying how much physical damage you can take. It is a general rule of thumb that those are healthier have a higher level of HP. You, for example, have 50 HP. Papyrus has 30. Asriel has 60. Asgore and I both have 80. For Sans to only have 1…"

Chara jumped in. "Is there any way to raise those stats?"

"There are a few," Toriel explained, "Many hotels here have rooms that are spelled to raise your HP levels above normal. Some monsters have them in their homes, too. You can also decrease the amount of damage that you take by working on several other stats."

Papyrus set down the kit and raised his hand eagerly. "I KNOW THITH- SORRY. THIS. THE HIGHER YOUR DEF IS, THE LETH- LESS DAMAGE YOU TAKE."

Toriel patted him on the head and pulled the kit over to her. "Very true," she said as she unzipped it, "DEF is very important. You can also raise your SPEED to move faster and avoid pain. There is also a stat called INV that I have never fully understood. I believe it has something to do with how long it takes for you to start being damaged? Those last two are more confusing. They are also harder to read, as they do not show up in a standard check."

Chara narrowed their eyes, looking over their littlest brother. They'd tried to learn how to do these checking things, but what came up for them was even less than what came up for the monsters. Their pitiful checks only told them a monster's ATK and DEF. They couldn't even see HP. The flavour text didn't help at all.

Asriel, who until this moment had been occupied with crying, said, "What about weapon and armour? We could get him some of those. They would help his ATK and DEF, at least."

Toriel looked at him, startled, then smiled and nodded regally. "Thank you, Asriel. I will go rummage in the storage room to try and find him some. I am sure we have an amulet or two that will help. That is very thoughtful of you to say."

Quietly, to themself, Chara vowed that they would find out more about these stats and find a way to make their baby brother safe.


	5. Chapter 5

The faint tumbling of dirt and crunching of snow was all the warning Sans got before Flowey was popped up in the ground just beyond the porch landing. Sans gasped and pushed back futilly from the flower. Papyrus had his leg in too tight a grip for him to move.

Papyrus was crouched down next to and above Sans on the tiny porch. He had Sans leg held up in his hands. Green healing magic surrounded the cracks in the tibia and fibula. Unusually for the magic of a skeleton, the healing spell crackled and popped like a real fire. It bonded the pieces of bone in fitful spurts, but it was working. Well, up to a point. At that point, Sans' body quit accepting the healing magic. Papyrus sighed and released the spell. Most of the cracks were healed. Only the two biggest ones remained, and they were reduced to pencil-thin lines.

Sans saw Papyrus perk up out of the corner of his eye when Flowey appeared. He frowned. That didn't make any sense. Flowey hadn't introduced himself to them in this timeline yet. How could his brother know Flowey, let alone well enough to be relieved to see him?

"OH! HELLO THERE, FLOWER FRIEND. THAT WAS VERY FAST OF YOU. DID YOU GET THE GROCERIES?"

Sans felt even more confused. Groceries? Friend? Papyrus hadn't acted like this last timeline. This couldn't have been just from the strawberry smoothie, could it? Had Flowey already done something different? Apart from hurting Sans, that is. Maybe that was enough? But why would Papyrus be acting different. Sans could already feel the headache coming on.

About a foot away from Flowey the ground parted to reveal several bags of groceries. They were a bit dirty and the bags were wet, but that was all. Sans knew Flowey found it easier to travel underground than above. Well, more underground than Sans did.

"Howdy, Papyrus! Yes, I got the groceries. There was a bit of extra money left over from what you gave me, so I got a couple more of those smoothies. I hope that's okay."

Papyrus nodded. "THAT'S PERFECTLY ALRIGHT! THE SHOPKEEPER MUST HAVE BEEN HAVING A SALE ON SOMETHING. THAT'S USUALLY THE EXACT AMOUNT OF MONEY I NEED. I LIKE TO PAY WITH EXACT CHANGE, THAT WAY THE SHOPKEEPERS HAVE SMALLER BILLS TO HELP MAKE CHANGE FOR OTHER PEOPLE."

"how do you-" Sans started to ask, but his voice gave out midway. Not gave out as in got too gravelly or painful or discouraged to talk, but gave out as in stopped working.

Sans was mortified. How could he forget to renew the spell on his voice this morning? It was the first thing he always did once Papyrus was out of the house. He felt so stupid. Now Papyrus was going to have to recast the spell for him.

Both Flowey and Papyrus turned to him with very different looks. Papyrus had his usual look of concern and understanding. Flowey's look was more interesting. Flowey looked...nostalgic?

"HERE, SANS, LET ME HELP YOU RENEW THAT SPELL…"

* * *

Chara stared up at the glittering ceiling that was the top to their room. It wasn't anywhere near the beauty of the real thing (don't think about it that's gone you'll never see it again) but these little stars had so much more meaning to them. They could remember the day that they and Asriel had stumbled on what must have been packages and packages of those little stick-on stars. The tacky stuff didn't work anymore, but it was easy enough to make something similar. At least, that's what Gaster had said. He'd done it, too. Now every bedroom in the entire underground had stars on it's ceiling, and Chara had made sure that there was at least one real constellation on each one. Theirs was no exception. Chara had picked their favorite, Scorpio, the sign of their birth. Asriel and Papyrus liked it, too.

It was their third brother who Chara was thinking about, though. The young adult had noticed that Sans never seemed to cry. He didn't make any noise at all. Mom and Dad didn't seem worried by it, but Chara was sure Sans should be talking by now, or at least whimpering. Human babies made noise from minute one. Was that not how monsters worked? Chara knew now that they grew much, much slower. Asriel still hadn't hit puberty. Did monsters hit puberty? Was that really relevant right now?

"Azzy. Azzy. Hey, Azzy."

Below them, in his tangle of blankets, pillows, and limbs, Asriel snorted and turned over. The sounds were unmistakable. Chara wasn't sure which way he was turning, but turning he was.

"Aaaazy. Hey, Azzy!" Chara crooned quietly.

Another snort was their only reply. At least, the only one from the target of their intent. Azzy had always been a heavy sleeper, but Papyrus was not.

"WHAT IS IT NOW, CHARA?" He asked from the top bunk across from Chara.

They hesitated, but he was their brother. If they couldn't trust him, who could they trust? Just because they had known Asriel longer didn't mean he was more trustworthy. And Papyrus probably would know, too.

"Why isn't Sans talking yet? Is there something wrong with- no, that's rude. Is there something we can help him with?" Chara caught their ableist language just in time. Mom wouldn't like it.

Papyrus sort of buzzed a bit while he thought. It was a combination of a hum and a vrr sound. Pap had been making it more and more lately. Mom had said it was fine, that it was just another way for him to focus. Chara had tried to make the sound, but it hadn't worked. They figured it was the same kind of effect as white noise.

"IT'S HIS JAW, AGAIN. BECAUSE HE CAN'T MOVE IT HE CAN'T REALLY SPEAK. A LOT OF SKELETONS CAN'T SPEAK. IT'S WHY SO MANY OF US KNOW SIGN LANGUAGE. I THINK MOM AND DAD ARE PLANNING TO TEACH HIM SOON."

Chara scowled. "That's stupid. You don't have the right parts to speak, like a vocal cord? Anyway, you don't have them, either. So he should be able to speak, too."

Papyrus rolled over to face them. He placed a phalange on the gap where his throat would be. Magic lit up, dark and light blue swirls tracing out the shape of a throat, adam's apple, and neck. "WE DO HAVE THOSE THINGS. THEY'RE JUST MADE OF MAGIC. IT'S EASIER TO KEEP THAT MAGIC HIDDEN. IT COSTS A BIT OF ENERGY TO MAKE IT SHINE, WHICH IS GOOD. OTHERWISE IT WOULD BE HARD TO GET TO SLEEP."

From down below came the sound of giggles. Chara bent over the edge of their bunk and looked down. Azriel had at some point woken up. He was giggling like mad.

Chara sighed and said, "Azzy, please. I'm trying to be serious."

"About what?" He asked in that silly voice he got when he was still half asleep.

The human breathed out a sigh and surrendered to the inevitable. "We're talking about Sans. I'm pretty sure he should be talking by now. Isn't there a way for him to speak without moving his jaw? Some kind of spell?"

Azriel hummed softly to himself. "Hmm...no, I don't think so."

Chara huffed. That was stupid. Magic could do so many things. Why not this? It didn't seem that hard to them. Hadn't anyone ever tried to make it before? An evil little grin spread across their face. "Azzy~," They said in that sing-song voice that meant they were up to something, "Guess what we're gonna do tomorrow?"

"What?" He asked flatly. He knew that voice all too well.

"We're going on a field trip! The library has copies of old spell books, right? And journals of experimental logs from magic users?"

"IT DOES," Papyrus answered quickly, "ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT LOOKING FOR A SPELL TO LET SANS TALK?"

"Yep," Chara said cheerfully, "and if we don't find anything, we're going to see if anyone has tried before. Then we're going to invent the spell to do it. After all, it will benefit more monsters than just Sans. There's lots of monsters that have to use Hands, but not everybody knows it. This was they could interact with more people easier."

Azriel groaned. He hated reading boring stuff like that. He'd much rather read a good fantasy novel, or, better yet, write something himself. But if Chara wanted something, there was no stopping them. Better to surrender now, especially since resisting this would make him look like a monster who didn't care about his family or anyone else, and that wasn't true. He was a prince. It was his duty to care for his people as best he could.

"Fine," He said, "But you owe me ten nights of snail pie for dinner."

"Five," Chara countered.

"Deal. Now, can we go back to bed? I'm still tired from magic practice yesterday.

"ME, TOO," Papyrus said with a yawn. "HEALING FIRE MAGIC IS VERY HARD TO DO. I THINK MISS...SORRY, MOM. I THINK MOM WAS HAPPY WITH HOW MUCH I"M IMPROVING. WAS I DOING GOOD?"

"Yeah/Yep." Two voices said quickly. Chara looked down at Azriel. Then they both laughed. After a moment, Papyrus joined in, too. The room slowly filled up with laughter. Life together was good.


	6. Chapter 6

Sans startled awake from the depths of a bad dream. Someone had been talking to him, someone wise and important and big. It wasn't Asgore, but the feeling was similar. It had been a nice feeling, but then something had happened. The person talking to him had been pulled away, far away, and then they were swallowed by a cold, inky darkness that moved almost like jello. It was terrifying. The small skeleton looked around desperately, trying to find that void that had taken his-

"SANS!"

He jumped up and raced over to the door to his room. That sounded like Pap, and if Sans didn't respond in less than a minute, Papyrus would come into his room. Being a medically frail brother of a monster who constantly worried about you was hard.

Sans stuck his head out of the door and said, "yeah, bro?"

"I'M GOING TO PICK UP SOME MORE OF YOUR SMOOTHIES. WHAT FLAVORS DO YOU WANT?"

Oh. Another RESET. Sans wondered what had triggered this one. Everything had seemed to be working out fine. Well, he'd better not ask for strawberry this time. What was it he usually asked for?

"can i have some tomato ones?"

Papyrus' familiar sigh was music to his nonexistent ears. Finally things were back to normal.

"SANS, I AM POSITIVELY CERTAIN THOSE KETCHUP "SMOOTHIES" ARE NOT GOOD FOR YOU. THEY HAVE FAR TOO MUCH SUGAR!"

Sans snickered. "aw, but i'm positively _sweet_ on them."

His brother groaned and Sans grinned. This was more like it. Papyrus might play at hating them, but Sans knew he secretly loved when Sans made puns. He even made the occasional one himself, and they were always better than Sans'. Then again, Pap was older, so he'd had more time to practice.

"I AM GOING. TO GO. TO THE STORE. AND YOU WILL GET NO KETCHUP."

"aw, bro," Sans complained, knowing it was useless but used to blindly following the script, "how else am i going to _ketchup_ with my favorite flavor?"

The slam of the front door was Sans' only answer. He relaxed. Now he could take his time and rela-

Vines wrapped around him, cocooning him, trapping him. Sans screamed, but just as he did, his voice spell gave out. He clawed at the vines, trying to free himself. It was no use. The hold he was in was tightening. Soon he was curled up in a fetal position with vines pressing in on all sides.

Then a familiar, flowery face poked into the ball right in front of his face. ** The expression on Flowey's face was almost manic; manic tinged with hate.

Flowey said in a sing-song voice like a schoolyard bully, "You've been taking up too much of his attention. I want all of Papyrus' attention, so you'll have to go. It's too bad you won't remember any of this, because I really want to know if dying is a universal feeling. Oh well."

Sans wouldn't have even had a chance to scream before the vines pressed in on him again, crushing and cracking and breaking and...

Cold, inky darkness swallowed him whole.

* * *

Banners hung around the living room, each one of them painted with the birthday wishes of a different school in the Underground. Presents were stacked all around the edges of the room; the piles reached so high that the ceiling almost touched them. A brand new kaftan in Chara's favorite colors was laid across the stuffed chair. A giant cake was in the center of the table. It was dark chocolate with chocolate ganache and a sculpted peacock stood on top.

Standing in the doorway, staring at all the fanfare with wide eyes and shaking hands, was Chara. Their eyes kept darting between all the things like they were going to attack four other members of Chara's family stood in the center of it all. They're huge grins were slowly fading in the face of Chara's confusion and fear.

"Why did you all do this for me?" Chara asked, clearly upset. "I like our normal, quiet birthday celebrations. This...this is too much!"

Toriel said, quietly, "Papyrus found a video in the dump. We watched it to make sure that it was appropriate for you children. There was a part of it that said that humans make a big deal of 21st birthday parties. We wanted you to have that experience. Was that wrong?"

Chara sighed and wiped their face. "It's just the age when humans in the country up above can finally drink alcohol. They usually go out and get roaring drunk, then throw up all the next day."

All the monsters except Sans looked shocked. He was too busy trying to free himself from Asgore's hold. Lately he had been wanting to hug on Chara's leg all the time. Everyone thought it was cute.

Toriel spoke her feelings, "No! You are far too young to have alcohol in your system. The law here is that you have to be at least 150 to try alcohol. Having it before then can cause irreparable damage to your soul."

Both groups looked at each other with squinted eyes and twisted heads. There was such a huge gap in culture here it was ridiculous.

"I...okay," Chara said. They didn't want to deal with the whole 'I'm probably only going to live until I'm around 80' business. It was just...Chara didn't want to know what their parents would do when they learned that. As nice as they are...Chara didn't want to make them mad. "Can I have hot chocolate instead?"

Grins spread over every face in the room. Things were back to normal. "Of course, my child. Do you want the colourful little marshmallows, too?"

Chara nodded, walking over and scooping Sans up to rock in their arms. "I'd love that. Then we can start opening all these presents. What did you do, ask the entire Underground if they wanted to give me something?"

Asgore looked sheepish as he stood up and motioned to the banners. "We did. The children helped decorate these for you, and the rest are presents from almost every family in the Underground. They really care about you, even the ones who've never met you. You give them hope. Hope that, one day, we can all stand under the sun again in peace."

Chara did what they usually did when Dad said things like that, which was to ignore it. Instead, she started tickling Sans and making him laugh. It was such a wonderful sound. Chara couldn't imagine a world without it.


	7. Chapter 7 - LoVe

"SANS?" Papyrus called as he came in the house. His hands were full with grocery bags. Sans was always at his station by now, but Papyrus always called out, so he did. He got his usual response of nothing. Good. No more weirdness from Sans.

Papyrus still wasn't sure what he had done to cause the difference. Maybe it was a bad dream? But wouldn't that be constant across the timelines? Maybe not. Papyrus' dreams didn't seem to be, but he could remember the RESETs, so that wasn't a good way to tell if it was true. Then again, some people seemed to remember bits and pieces of the previous timeline whenever it got RESET. Maybe Sans had a dream about his time in the hospital. That sounded reasonable.

The groceries thudded on the counter in the kitchen. Papyrus swiftly set about putting the groceries away. He hummed a little tune to himself. There had been a sale this time, just like the last. There seemed to be a sale 3 out of 5 times, purely at random.

With the groceries put away, Papyrus set out to clean the house. He always cleaned the house today. It was a Wednesday. Every Wednesday he cleaned the house, and it always happened the same way. He would start off by cleaning the kitchen, then the living room, then the stairs, and the hallw-

Papyrus froze, knees shaking, when he saw it. There was a pile of dust just outside of Sans' door. Not only that, but the pile was intermixed with Sans' clothing - the set Sans should have been wearing today.

"SANS?" Papyrus called out, his hands bringing his scarf up to cover the lower half of his face. He sniffed in the magic reflexively. "SANS, THIS ISN'T FUNNY. COME OUT NOW...PLEASE?"

Papyrus' eye lights darted between the different doorways. He was certain that, at any moment, Sans was going to jump out and say, "gotcha!". But seconds turned into minutes turned into an hour, and no one came. Papyrus forced himself to get up and physically check every room in the house. Nothing. He called out loudly. Nothing. He even called Sans' phone. The pile of dust vibrated and resettled, revealing Sans' phone.

He collapsed to his knees and broke down as he finally accepted what had happened to his brother. Tears streamed down his face as he cried.

Papyrus had no idea how long he had been crying, but if his throat was any judge, it was several hours. He wasn't anywhere close to being done, but the matter was taken out of his hands when Flowey called out to him from the window.

"Howdy! I heard you crying from out here. Is there anything I can do to help?"

That was right. He hadn't been introduced to Flowey in this timeline. Still, the thought of having a piece of Azriel close to him right now- having a piece of his brother close to him right now- was a desperate comfort to him.

Papyrus sniffed, taking in the magic embedded in his scarf, and smiled weakly at Flowey. "Could you come in here please? I know I don't know you, but...I just found my brother's dust. I don't know who would have hurt him. Maybe he injured himself on the door. He only has...had 1 HP. Stars, I can't believe he's...I can't…"

Papyrus broke down crying again. He heard the window creak open and the slither of vines on the floor. Then comforting leaves touched his shoulders and he let himself grieve.

* * *

Chara lay quietly waiting for all the sounds of their brothers sleeping to die away. It took about an hour, but before long only the sounds of sleeping monsters filled the room. They moved ever so slowly out of their bunk bed and down the ladder, making absolutely sure not to make the bed creak.

When they were finally down they pitter-pattered silently out of the room and down the hallway. The lights were out, but they had excellent night vision. They easily navigated to the living room.

Sitting on Chariel by the fireplace was Toriel. She had her knitting set up on her lap. Next to the chair on the floor was a basket full of red yarn. Chara picked up the basket, set themselves up in front of the fireplace, and sat down.

They pulled the yarn into their lap. It resolved itself into a half-completed scarf. The scarf was very broad, almost cape-like. Chara was working with a soft, bulky yarn to make it warm.

Toriel smiled indulgently at the almost 35 year old human and said, quietly, "You are here to work on your present some more, are you not? I really am not sure why you insist on making it in secret. Children need their rest."

Chara smiled weakly at their mom and answered the unasked question again. "I really want to surprise him. You've said that turning 100 is a big deal for monsters. I want to make sure that Papyrus' birthday is special. I just have to make sure that I get it done with enough time for Azriel to spell it. I think a happy and calming spell would really help him when he has bad days."

Toriel nodded agreeably. "I am not doubting that. I only wish you would spend the time sleeping instead of knitting."

Chara once again ignored their mother's misunderstanding of human growth rates. At this point it was a matter of pride. They'd managed to keep this ignorance intact for nearly 26 years. It wouldn't be right to give up on it just yet. That would be quitting, and Chara never liked to think of themselves as a quitter. And part of them still was afraid of what would happen when their family found out. What if they got kicked out? Human parents did that all the time. By human standards Chara was ancient to still be living with their family, but...they weren't ready to leave. Being able to stay at home was worth pretending to be the child everyone thought they were. Right?


	8. Chapter 8 - Together

Sans woke up in the next RESET desperate for breath. His left eye light was lit up with blue and yellow flashes. His right was dark. He looked around the room wildly, but no treacherous flower was in sight. His breathing slowly eased, but it was a long time before his magic died back down to normal.

"SANS!"

He jumped up and raced for the door, still shaken. His movements were stiff and uncoordinated, like his whole body wasn't on the same page about this whole living thing. He made it to the door and grabbed the handle. It turned from the other side. The door opened to reveal Papyrus staring at him, worry in every molecule of his expression.

"SANS...I'M GOING TO PICK UP SOME OF YOUR SOME OF YOUR SMOOTHIES. WHAT FLAVORS DO YOU WANT?"

Sans didn't even hesitate, he was that upset still. "can i have some strawberry?"

Papyrus stared at him like he was falling to dust right before his eyes. He gulped and shakily said, "OF COURSE, B-B-BROTHER! ALTHOUGH...YOU DO NOT USUALLY WANT THAT F-F-FLAVOR. IS SOMETHING WRONG?"

Sans shook his right hand vehemently. He tried to shake his left hand, too, but it was jerky and painful. Papyrus grasped it between the two of his and sent a pulse of healing magic through him. It felt good. "thanks, bro. don't know what's up with me this morning," _yes i do_, Sans thought to himself, "my body just doesn't want to cooperate."

Papyrus looked really worried now. "ARE YOU SURE IT'S NOT SOMETHING MORE? WE CAN CALL THE DOCTOR AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT EASILY. IT'S STILL EARLY ENOUGH THAT WE COULD GET IN."

Sans hastily waved this away. "nah, i don't think it's that serious. if i'm still like this tomorrow, maybe," _if there even is a tomorrow, "_but for now i'll just go slow and take my time."

Papyrus stared at him for another couple of seconds, weighing something. Then he said, "I WANT YOU TO COME WITH ME TO THE GROCERY STORE TODAY. YOU'RE SO ISOLATED AT YOUR SENTRY STATION. WHAT IF SOMETHING WERE TO HAPPEN? AT LEAST IF YOU'RE WITH ME I CAN CALL FOR HELP. WE CAN TELL UNDYNE THAT YOUR HEALTH TOOK A TURN, WHICH IS TRUE!"

Sans smiled happily at his brother. He was so cool. "alright, bro. lemme just get dressed and we can go."

A few minutes later both brothers walked out of the house, an easy conversation bouncing between them. But someone wasn't happy. Flowey glared at them from in the tree line. Another difference he didn't cause, and once again it was centered around the smiley trashbag.

That weirdo had to be remembering somehow. Was it the machine in the basement? Flowey still hadn't got a satisfactory explanation of that. Sans always seemed to be tinkering with it. That had to be it.

Now, how should he destroy it? Fire? Metal just got hot; it didn't melt easily. Acid? Where could he get some? There was Napstablook's tears, but those took forever to harvest. An explosion, maybe? That could work, and it was easy enough to get the ingredients he'd need for the bomb. Yes, that would do nicely. Flowey popped back below the soil and set his plan into action.

* * *

Chara groaned as their aching knees protested sitting on the ground. It seemed like every day they hurt a little more. They'd tried asking Mom to heal it, but that only seemed to hold it off for an hour or two. The pain always came back. It was probably that arthritis they'd heard other humans talking about. 60 was a reasonable age to develop it, right? None of the books they had found had mentioned it, so for that they were on their own.

A small skeletal hand intruded on their thoughts. Chara looked down to see Sans, in all his toddler glory, looking at them with a worried expression.

"char, what wrong?"

Chara smiled down at their littlest brother and said affectionately, "Nothing's wrong, smiley trashbag. I'm just a little stiff today. Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Sans' eye lights sparkled. It was always so cute when they did that. Chara loved getting to see it. "tell me bout the surface! dad and mom won't tell me nothing, but if we all wanna see it so bad it hasta be cool!"

Chara's expression sobered. Their memories of the surface seemed so far away now, but it still gave them nightmares.

"The surface is a horrible place where humans kill each other, betray the planet, destroy anything and everything, and generally make life miserable for everyone else. There's only one thing up there that I would ever want to see again: the golden flowers that grew in the center of my village. Well...those and the stars. The stars were pretty cool."

Only when they had finished their speech did Chara look up. Sans looked absolutely devastated. Tears were pricking at the corner of his eye sockets and his hands were shaking. They could hear him hiccuping, too, and that always meant he was about to cry.

Chara pulled him into their lap and rocked him gently, humming soothing sounds until the tears were gone. Then they held him up to their face and said, solemnly, "I don't want to return to the surface. Why would I? All the best things I've ever known are down here. Mom's down here and so is Dad. Asriel is here, too. Then there's you and Papyrus, my two favorite skeletons. There's Gaster and Gerson, too. I'd have never eaten Mom's snail pie if I hadn't fallen down here. The chocolate's better, too. Magic is awesome. There's so many wonderful things down here. I'd so much rather be down here than up there. Wouldn't you?"

Sans sniffed and nodded, but, "i wanna see stars. they sound cool. could...could you draw me picture? i keep safe, no juice stains."

Chara smiled and nodded. "I can draw you a picture of the stars. I'll draw one of those flowers, too. Then anything I could ever want will be down here with me."

Sans laughed happily and got up out of their lap. Then he toddled over to the art supplies and started getting things out.


	9. Chapter 9 - Destruction

Dingy, dirty, dusty air stirred up as a broken tile on the floor of the basement lab burst open. Petals pushed their way through the rough tunnel of dirt. He had been smaller the last time he had come here. Much smaller. Still, that was no excuse for scattering the dirt all over the lab floor. That was just rude.

Flowey shook off the layer of dust and dirt that had collected on his petals and looked around. Yep, still looked completely unused, but that could just be a ruse. He'd just proven it was easy enough to scatter dust motes everywhere. Anyway, if what he suspected was true, then _he_ wouldn't need to come down here anymore. _He_ could just rely on what _past him_ had done. Or was it _present him. Future him? _Boy, time travel sure was confusing. At least, talking about it was confusing. Actually doing it? Easy as pie.

Flowey felt the familiar anger flow through him at the memory of the last time he had eaten pie. It couldn't be real anger. Of course it wasn't real anger. A soulless being like him couldn't feel anger. That was silly. Still, the memory of that anger fueled him in his quest. A whirlwind of pellets and vines tore apart everything in the room looking for something out of place, something different. He found nothing.

A tiny spark of a soul less than a millimeter across throbbed with fury. It had to be here. It had to be! Flowey overturned the couch. Nothing. He tore out all the drawers. Nothing. He pulled the stupid heap of junk machine out of the wall and looked behind it. Nothing.

Flowey growled and pulled out the bombs he had been painstakingly making for several days. Just because he couldn't find it (whatever it was) didn't mean it wasn't here. Besides, he wanted to see the look on Sans' face when he learned that his secret little room had been blown to smithereens. That would be worth all this effort, even if it wouldn't make the skeleton forget all his RESETs. Flowey was starting to hope it _wouldn't_ make Sans forget. It would be so much fun to play with him.

A maniacal grin split his face as Flowey strategically placed all the bombs in the room's weak spots. Then he set the timer and disappeared down into the ground. He was crawling as fast as he could so he wouldn't get caught in the blast. He was a good 100 meters away when the ground reverberated underneath him. He smiled. This was going to be fun.

* * *

Chara sat outside the door to their parents' bedroom. Their head hung low in their hands. Everything hurt now. There wasn't a single joint in their 78 year old body that didn't hurt. The arthritis was really bad, but in the mood they were in right now they felt they deserved it. How could they deserve anything else? They'd poisoned their dad.

It had been an honest mistake. A lot of Mom's recipes had weird flowers in them. Chara didn't know a lot about cooking (or botany), so they didn't know that buttercups were different. It had taken them so long to gather enough for the volume of flowers they thought they needed. Maybe they should have taken the time to think about whether or not they were really safe. How could they have known, though?

That logic didn't stop them from beating themself up for making the mistake. It had just been a simple cake, but it had done so much damage. Mom had called every doctor in the Underground to look at dad. Papyrus had exhausted himself trying to heal him. Azriel had retreated to their bedroom to cry.

Chara wasn't crying. They were still in shock. Well, shock and guilt. It had been their idea to bake the cake, so obviously it was their fault. Stupid, stupid. They should have known it was cups of butter instead of buttercups! Now Dad was dying and it was all their fault.

"Chara?" Mom's voice called out quietly. Chara jumped up and spun to face the door to their parents' bedroom. Mom had poked her head out of the door. Her expression was soft… way too soft for the crime Chara had committed. Why wasn't she angry? "Come inside, Chara. Please. Dad wants to talk to you."

Chara walked into the room like they were walking to their death. Their feet dragged across the hardwood floor and their hands worried at each other. Now they were nervous. What if Dad was mad at them? Yes, he hadn't gotten mad the entire time they'd lived with him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't get mad now. They couldn't handle him being mad at them. Even after all these years, the thought of what an angry adult meant still terrified them.

Asgore was laying on his back in the bed with his head propped up. When he saw them he smiled. Why was he smiling at them? They'd hurt him! "Howdy, little one. I'm sorry I gave you all such a scare. I'll try not to do that again in the future," he sounded apologetic.

Chara's head snapped up to stare at him. Wait. Did he seriously think this was his fault? "No. You… you… no. That's not your fault at all, Dad. Why do you think it's your fault?"

He chuckled. Chara didn't get the joke at all. "Why do you think it's yours? This was just an accident, little one. Anyone could have made the mistake you did, and you didn't make it alone. I don't blame you, and you shouldn't blame yourself, either."

Chara felt themself curling up as he spoke. A part of them knew he was right and knew that there was no reason that they should be this guilty, but another part of them was still that terrified kid that adults had turned on all those years ago. No matter how old Chara got, they never seemed to escape the shadow of what those adults did. They wished, just for five minutes, that they could.

"Chara," Asgore sounded understanding. Why did he have to sound like that? They could handle it if he was sad or disappointed, but they definitely couldn't handle this. "Chara, it's okay to feel a little guilty now and then. If you don't I would be worried for you. But you can't let it take over your life. Does that make sense?"

Chara nodded. They still felt really guilty. They didn't know if it would ever stop. But they could at least pretend to feel better for their Dad, right? "I get it. Can I go now?"

Asgore sighed. "Yes, Chara, you can go. But, please, think about what I said."

Chara bowed and raced back out the door, heading down the hall to hide their face in their bed and cry.


	10. Chapter 10 - Plans

Empty eye sockets stared at the burning husk of a door. Sans was struck dumb by the sight. He didn't move. He didn't breathe. He just stood there and stared and the burning remnants of the monster he admired more than any other.

He could still remember the day he had found out that this house was for sale. It wasn't even a question for him. He had made the offer with as much cash as he could get his hands on in less time than it would have taken him to walk all the way down there. No one else even bid on the house; Sans suspected that no one else could even remember that the house existed for long. That was the effect of what had happened to Gaster. Everything that was connected to him became unmemorable.

This house, the family home that Gaster had grown up in but rarely went to, still held his biggest secret. In the back of the house, hidden under a giant tarp, was the machine. Sans honestly had no idea what it did. It was big, it was complicated, and it was Gaster's. That's all that mattered to him. He spent hours fiddling with the thing just to try and figure out what it was. He failed.

Now Sans was terrified to crawl into the ruins of the basement and find out if that machine had survived. He knew it would all be back in the next RESET but that didn't matter to him right now. What mattered was that there was someone else, who not only could see the little hidden door, but could get into the locked basement, had broken in and destroyed the only connection Sans had to the Uncle he loved and admired more than any other monster. So when he heard the sound of dirt being bowled aside Sans spun around with herbicide on his mind. Flowey had a scared and worried expression on his face. Sans didn't believe it for a moment.

"what do you want?" Sans growled. The voice spell gave him an unnatural ability to make any sound he could imagine.

"I came to warn you! I saw a really shady monster messing around with this door back here. I already told Papyrus, and I've been searching everywhere to find you!" Flowey said. Sans could practically read the lie on his face.

"yeah right," Sans snarled, his voice deep, rumbling, and capable of scaring the daylights out of humans and monsters alike. "you and paps are the only other people i know who can see this place. don't even try to convince me it was him. there's no way Papyrus would do something like this." That was when Sans made the biggest mistake of his young life. He summoned his best attack, the blaster that Gaster had designed for him personally, and said, "now, do your weird little timeline thing. otherwise you're in for a bad time."

Flowey's face switched away from concern in less than a second. His mouth twisted into a cruel smile with four fangs nearly meeting in the middle. His normally small slits that Sans couldn't help but think of as eye sockets were blown wide, baring the red pin pricks in the center of the sockets that turned his whole face from amiable to evil.

"I knew it," Flowey said in a chuckle, "You do remember. What is it, smiley trashbag? Are you upset that I destroyed your little toy?"

That nickname was like a slap to the face. Sans scowled. No one should call him that but his siblings! Without even thinking about it Sans let the Gaster Blaster he had summoned loose on the tiny little plant. He didn't even bother to dodge. The paltry 1 DMG Sans could deal did hardly any damage at all, which meant that Flowey hadn't hurt or killed anyone this time around. Darn it. Sans relied so much on that Karmic Retribution of his. He was useless in a fight without it.

Even now he could feel the heavy drain on his magic from the blaster forcing him to his knees. When they hit the dirt Sans heard it. Flowey's laughter would haunt him for a long, long time to come. The blaster fizzled out as he fell over. He'd used up all his magic on that one spell. As he slipped into unconsciousness, cursing his own inability to judge his own stamina, Sans heard those terrifying words.

"Now, let's see. What do I want to do to you first?"

* * *

Chara groaned as they got up from their position kneeling on the floor. 82 years was a long time to be alive for a human, and their arthritis was nearly crippling them now. That wasn't the only thing that was wrong with them. They hadn't told Mom, but they couldn't see out of their left eye anymore and could barely see out of their right. They suspected it was linked to those white floaters in their eyes. It made life difficult to say the least. And there were so many times now that they felt their heart skip a beat. They weren't sure how much longer they could take it.

That exhaustion with their own body had led them to the plan. It was simple, really, and inevitable, too. Dad was always going on about how they were going to be the saviour of monsterkind. Now they were dying, so they needed to make that death count.

They'd done their research about this. Any monster could absorb their soul after they died and go through the Barrier with it. If they did that, then they could find some humans, kill them, and take their souls back to the Underground and use them to break the Barrier. That would let the monsters they loved finally see the sun they so longed to see. Dying would be worth setting them free.

The only part of the plan they weren't sure about was that monster. Who could they convince to do it? Mom and Dad would try to stop them, Papyrus was too nice, and Sans was too young. No one else was close enough to them that they would feel good about letting them absorb their soul. Also, they would need to be there when Chara died, and Chara was pretty sure that Mom wouldn't let a stranger in to do that. That left Azriel. He was easy to convince to do things, but he was so gentle… they'd just have to be the one in control when the killing began. And they'd need a good story to convince him to do it in the first place. What could they say?

Chara looked over at the wall of artwork and saw the pictures they had drawn for Sans. One in particular stood out. It was the one they had drawn of the flowers from their home village. Maybe that would work. They could tell Azzy that they wanted to see the flowers from their village one last time. He was sentimental. That would definitely work on him.

There was one last thing that they needed to be sure about before they started on the plan. They shuffled their painful way to where Sans was drawing. He looked up and smiled at them. They smiled back. "Sans. Can I ask you something?"

Sans nodded. "uh-huh."

Chara swallowed. "Can you promise me something? I want you to promise me that you won't ever let a human hurt you. Can you do that for me?"

Sans swallowed. He already had such a serious attitude when it came to promises. Chara knew he would keep it, though. He was obsessive about keeping his promises. He hated giving them out, too. They knew it was a lot to ask him to to do this, but they needed to know.

"...yeah," Sans said slowly, stretching the word out, "i can do that. why? won't you be here to do it for me?"

"I'm… going to go away soon," Chara explained slowly, "and I won't be coming back."

Tears welled up in Sans' eye sockets. "b-but why? don't you love us anymore?"

Chara instantly got down on their aching knees and pulled Sans into their lap. "Of course I do. I will always, always love you, smiley trashbag. But… I need to do this, okay?"

Sans sniffled, "okay… can i draw a picture of you to keep with me? please?"

Chara nodded. "You can draw as many as you want, Sansy. I'll even do some silly poses. What do you want me to do first?"

Sans grinned. "well…"


	11. Chapter 11 - Death

Flowey grinned his most twisted grin, the tiny spark of a soul in his stem throbbing with excitement. He was absolutely thrilled. This was dangerous. This was daring. This was fun.

He stared at his canvas and licked his lips. There was Sans, bound to a chair, gagged, and showing real fear. His small, upside-down soul was summoned and hovering in front of him. Connected to it by a long line was an IV of healing magic that Flowey was especially proud of. It would replenish Sans' health as he lost it, which meant that Flowey could hurt him for as long as he wanted to. He giggled. Yes, this was definitely going to be fun.

As he considered what he wanted to do to Sans first, Flowey let his anger wash over him. Papyrus hadn't been paying attention to him. He was his brother, Papyrus was supposed to play with him! Not with some fish bitch, and not with the baby. He'd killed the fish and scattered her dust in the river so she would never have a proper funeral, and also so Papyrus wouldn't suspect that she was dead. Then he captured Sans and got him set up properly for a long, long play time. If he couldn't get Papyrus to play with him, then maybe he should try playing with the baby himself.

When the idea occurred to him, Flowey's grin spread impossibly wider. He reached behind him and grabbed the sharpest knife on his table of torture. Seeing Sans' face when he brought it out…

He was surprised to experience a moment of hesitation. Sans looked so scared. His baby brother looked so scared. Did he really want to… no, he couldn't think like that. A soulless being wouldn't worry about hurting someone. He had to do it. He brought the knife forward and prepared to cut.

Not far away, Papyrus was searching. Flowey had said that there was a suspicious monster hanging around their basement door before it blew up. Papyrus might not like the memory of the monster who owned their basement before them, but he knew that machine meant a lot to Sans. If he could find the monster who had blown up their basement then he could figure out why, and if he could figure out why then he could stop them from doing it in the next timeline, and if he could stop it then Sans would be happy. He wanted Sans to be happy.

When he found the abandoned shed in the outskirts of Waterfall, of course he decided to check it out. An abandoned looking shed would be the perfect place to hide after committing a crime! That's what all his favorite TV shows said, anyway. So obviously he went in!

He wished he hadn't. Seeing the state that Sans was in, the blood dripping off of Flowey's knife, the expressions on their faces… it was heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time. They were brothers! Granted, Sans didn't know that, but Flowey did! Why was he doing this? Sans was bleeding from every bone in his body. Flowey had filetted and carved into his bones to create an _almost_ random design; _almost_ because Papyrus recognized it as Asriel's signature attack pattern, the one with stars raining down out of the sky.

"FLOWEY," Papyrus said deeply. Flowey jerked and spun around, a weird expression on his face. It was like worry, confusion, slyness, and fear were all thrown into a blender, frozen with liquid nitrogen, and scattered on a plate of anger and pain. "WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING TO MY BROTHER?"

Flowey's face contorted as he tried to come up with an explanation that would get Papyrus off his back, but Papyrus wasn't having it and let it show. He wanted the truth and he wanted it now.

"Um… shit. I-" Papyrus glared at him, "You haven't been paying attention to me! I'm your big brother! I'm the one you're supposed to be playing with, not the baby! So, since you're so obsessed with the smiley trashbag, I had to do something to him to get you to pay attention to me! So I did!"

Papyrus could see it in Sans' eyes. He hadn't known that it was Asriel doing this to him. Papyrus tried to mirror that expression, and it must have worked, because Flowey bought it. "YOU- YOU- AZZY?"

Flowey looked shocked for a moment, like he hadn't meant to say that. Then he jumped on it and owned it. "Yes, it's me! I'm stuck with my memories in a stupid, soulless flower and I can't even play with my own brother, so you can imagine the kind of stress I am under. I want your attention and I want all of it! I don't want to share you with some stupid fish! I don't want to share you with Sans, either! I don't want to share you with anyone!"

Papyrus gulped. Oh. So Flowey was jealous. That… sort of made sense. Azzy could get really moody if he wasn't getting the attention he thought he deserved. This was just kind of that taken to an extreme. A really, really scary extreme. But if Flowey really was soulless like he said, that made sense.

Papyrus raised both hands and slowly stepped forward. "I SEE. UM… HOW ABOUT THIS, FLOWEY. AZZY? FLOWEY. HOW ABOUT THIS: IF YOU LET ME TAKE SANS TO THE HOSPITAL I'LL PLAY WITH YOU FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT. I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU WANT ME TO. WE CAN EVEN," Papyrus gulped. This was a really big concession for him, but he needed Flowey to agree to this, "WE CAN EVEN PLAY MONSTERS AND HUMANS. I KNOW YOU LIKE TO BE THE MONSTER, SO I'LL BE THE HUMAN FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT, OKAY? JUST, PLEASE, LET ME TAKE SANS TO THE HOSPITAL. HE NEEDS HELP, AND I DON'T WANT HIM… I DON'T WANT HIM TO DUST."

Flowey eyed him in a way that Papyrus couldn't quite place. It lasted uncomfortably long. Then Flowey shrugged, dropped that wicked knife onto the cold, hard ground, and backed up. "Be my guest. I'm not going to let you out of my sight, though, and you'd better not tell anyone that this was me."

"OF COURSE NOT, FLOWEY!" Papyrus said as he stepped forward, ready to start untying Sans from the chair he was bound to. "IF I DID YOU WOULDN'T GET TO PLAY WITH ME! NOW, PLEASE STAY BACK. I DON'T WANT YOU TO-"

That was when it happened. Papyrus had been trying to be careful. He'd untied the arm restraints with the utmost care and was moving to the left leg when he bumped it. It was such a little bump! It shouldn't have done that much damage! But nobody bothered to tell that to Sans' soul. The little bump jostled the needle connecting that weird IV thing to Sans' soul. It lost its stability and fell out. Papyrus only had time to look up and see the panicked expression on Sans' face before his whole body turned to dust.

Papyrus froze. He- no. That can't have just happened. It was a joke, right? It had to be. He turned to Flowey, and his expression broke that little fantasy. Flowey looked like he was lost and in agony. This… this was real. He really had killed his little brother.

"FLOWEY," Papyrus asked, his voice sounding as if it was coming from a long way away, "PLEASE DO YOUR WEIRD LITTLE TIMELINE THING. I CAN'T HANDLE THIS AGAIN. I'M NOT… STRONG ENOUGH. I PROMISE I'LL PLAY WITH YOU ALL YOU WANT. JUST, PLEASE, MAKE IT SO SANS IS SAFE."

Flowey slowly nodded through the shock. It was clear that he didn't know that Papyrus remembered. Papyrus just hoped that, if he could keep Flowey entertained long enough, Sans would be safe.

"I can do that, cheery doormat. I promise."

* * *

Staring at your own dead body was definitely surreal. So was hearing your brother's thoughts, especially when they were so steeped in grief. Chara focused on them, trying to pick out the thread that would let them help him.

... It's my fault, it's my fault, it's my fault-

Chara interrupted that thought right there. Azzy, stop that. It's no more your fault than it is mine. I told you that I was dying anyway. It was going to be old age before long. We just hurried it along a bit. Azriel sniffed. Chara felt that, felt the tears in his fur (and wasn't that a weird feeling), and sighed. You're such a needy crybaby! Come on, we have to get out of the Barrier before Mom and Dad come back. Don't make me move these limbs myself!

Azriel sniffed again, but Chara could tell that this one was different. This one was just Azzy trying to clean up his face. Chara smiled and felt that smile translate onto Azriel's face. Okay, Chara. You wanted to see the flowers in your village one last time, right?

Chara nodded and picked up their own body. Azriel recoiled, but Chara explained, I don't want Mom and Dad to have to figure out what to do with it. We can put it in the flowers on the Surface, okay? I know you'll like them. They're golden, even more so than the buttercups. I don't know what they're called, though.

Azriel headed out of their bedroom and towards the Barrier as they talked. I know. You drew a picture with Sans, oh, twenty some years ago? He still keeps it safe from juice stains.

Chara nodded, noting absently that walking through the Barrier felt like static and cotton balls. Yeah, I know. I never thought he would take it so seriously. I figured he would forget about it in a few years, maybe.

Monsters live for a long time, Chara, so we have to remember stuff for a long time, too. Azriel admonished, It's still so weird to me that humans can only live a bit over a hundred years. No wonder you changed so much physically! I just thought you were like the Whimsums. They go through so many life stages, and they look so hugely different in all of them. I never thought that you were actually aging that fast. Wowie!

Chara shivered as they stepped out into the sun for the first time in decades. It felt so weird against Azriel's fur. He was standing in shock, taking everything in for the first time. Chara was too busy reliving their mad escape to feel that awe, however. The only thing they could do was shield Azriel as best they could from the horrors in their mind. They didn't want to worry or upset him. If they'd known that this whole soul absorbing thing would involve sharing thoughts, well… they might have reconsidered who they asked to absorb them. Maybe Gaster would have been a better idea after all.

Is that your village, Chara? Azriel's voice interrupted their thoughts.

Chara blinked, trying to focus on what Azriel could currently see. He had to have been walking for a while, because he was approaching the clearing that their village used to be in. It looked bigger now. There were a lot more houses and buildings. It could hardly be called a village anymore. It was now a small town.

Yes, this is it. The clearing with the flowers is over by that big tree there. At least, it used to be… Chara said. There was now a fence and a gate around the flowers. That hadn't been there before.

Azriel walked over and carefully opened the gate, setting Chara's body down on the flowers and sitting next to it. Chara ran their hand through the flowers, getting Azriel's fur covered in seeds and pollen. Maybe when they got back home Dad could have some fun trying to grow them. Of course, he wouldn't need to if they did what they had planned to do. Chara forced his body to stand up and look around. There were some humans not too far away.

Chara… what are you doing? Azriel asked uneasily.

I'm doing what Dad always said to do and being the Saviour of Monsterkind. Chara said stubbornly. Then they stepped forward and brought Azriel and themselves into their destiny.


	12. Chapter 12

When Papyrus woke up from the reset, he had to run to the bathroom so he wouldn't throw up on his sheets. The sight of his brother's dust was going to haunt him forever, and the guilt that it had been his fault? Oh, that guilt was excruciating. Still, he had a script to follow if he was to keep Sans from suspecting anything. It wasn't as though Sans could remember the resets, but he was sharp. Papyrus didn't want him to catch on if he didn't have to.

He stood up from the floor of the bathroom, flushed the toilet, and splashed his face off in the sink. Then he leaped up the stairs to make sure he wasn't late to yell at Sans' door. He made it just in time, according to his internal clock.

"SANS!" He called out, using the same tone and inflection he always did.

Sans' skull poked out of his bedroom door. Papyrus assessed him in an instant. He was pale and sweaty with dark circles under his eyes. He must have had another bad dream. He opened his mouth to speak, looked up at Papyrus… and flinched.

Papyrus pulled back, almost recoiling from the raw fear on his brother's face. No. No, that was- That was too much. He couldn't… he couldn't stand to see Sans afraid of him like that. It was too much - too much for him to bear. He didn't want to be the source of his brother's fear. Maybe it would be better for both of them if he went away. He had said that he would play with Flowey anyway. Maybe he should just stay with his older brother instead of his younger one. He could always come back next time to check if Sans… if he still…

His face hardened and he turned away from his brother, only to feel an insistent tug on his sleeve. Without looking he removed Sans' hand and started towards his bedroom, saying, "I HAVE AN… ERRAND TO ACCOMPLISH, SANS. IT MIGHT BE A WHILE, MAYBE EVEN DAYS, SO PLEASE DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME."

That didn't seem to work. Sans must have sensed that Papyrus really didn't mean to come back. He clung to Papyrus like a limpet clung to a boat hull. Papyrus sighed and shoved him gently but decisively into his bedroom and closed the door. He used his magic to lock him in. Then he headed towards his bedroom to begin packing. He was maybe two boxes in when, through the thin walls that separated his brother's room and his, Papyrus heard Sans panicking. The thuds sounded like he was throwing himself against the door. That wouldn't do! Sans had only 1 HP, he wouldn't survive that if he did it too long! Even the intentless door would cause some damage. He needed to stop Sans from doing that, but how?

When Papyrus' eye lights caught on the figure of his cowgirl action figure an idea occurred to him. The action figure was faded and peeling in places, but he could still make out the hoop that the cowgirl was stepping through. He knew ropes like those were used to tie up and control cattle. He also vaguely recalled stories of people being hogtied to railway lines. It sounded like the perfect solution to his Sans problem! Now all he needed was some rope. Hmm… maybe bed sheets would be better. He didn't want Sans to rub himself raw trying to escape.

Papyrus glided into Sans' room and caught his brother in his arms when he hurled himself out of the room. Sans was too surprised to react in time to prevent Papyrus from grabbing his sheets. He wrapped them around the squirming wiggle worm that his brother had turned into with not an inconsiderable amount of care. He didn't want Sans to be hurt because of him. Not again.

Papyrus sniffed and tried to hold back the tears he could feel brimming at the corners of his eye sockets. His mind was filling up with two things that swirled and clashed like food coloring in water. One was the images of his brother dying, his brother's dust, and his brother's fear. They were flashing in front of his eyes like a strobe light, traumatizing him over and over again in his own head. The other thing that was his own worry. Sans was still so young. How could he cope with being on his own? Papyrus was his big brother, he should be taking care of him like he had promised Chara he would. Never mind that he was only 157 years old and wasn't even legally old enough to be a sentry. He had to look after Sans! Abandoning him like this wasn't… it wasn't…

He shook his head and painstakingly tied off the last knot, holding Sans up and inspecting him from head to toe. His little brother was crying and struggling. His voice spell had given out on him, so he was making no noise, but the tears told all the story he needed. Papyrus gulped and turned his head away so he didn't have to meet the accusation in those eye sockets.

"I'M SORRY, SANS. I JUST CAN'T… I CAN'T HANDLE YOU BEING AFRAID OF ME… FORGIVE ME." With that he ran out of the room, out of the house, and into the woods.

* * *

The first thing Chara thought when they woke up was, _Wait. Aren't I supposed to be dead?_

They blinked and stared down at their body, looking for the wounds that had killed them. They didn't find them, but they did find something else. Their body… their body looked like it had when they first fell down into the Underground. It was a child's body. Not only that, but it was see through.

_Okay, maybe I am dead_, Chara thought to themself. _Now to figure out-_

"Hey, _Yvwi Usdi_! For why you here?" A child's voice with an accent Chara couldn't place called out from behind them. They turned around and saw them. Their face was serious, with a cast to it that Chara recognized as Cherokee. Their reservation wasn't far away from the mountain if Chara remembered correctly.

Chara shivered at the thought of talking to a stranger - especially a human. They _hated _humans, but… maybe it was a necessary evil. They seemed determined to talk to Chara, so they might as well talk to them. "I'm… not sure what that means, but," Chara looked around, taking their surroundings in for the first time, "I actually live here. Well, near here. My house is just a few rooms away. This is the spot where I fell."

The Cherokee child blinked. "My people were not aware that there were _Yvwi Usdi_ down here. That is, ah, ghosts? Spirits? They are a race of small, good, human-like creatures that help to guide my people and punish those who are disrespectful or aggressive."

Chara snorted. "There's a bunch of ghosts down here, but most of them are monsters. I think I'm the first human one. Or maybe I'm a monster now, too? That would be nice. I've always wanted to be a monster. But, well, I am… _used to be_ a human, just like you. I live… _lived_ down here for almost my whole life. I have three… two brothers and two parents. My family should be in New Home if you want to see them. They're the king and queen of Monsterkind." The Cherokee child stood to attention, then started to cough. It quickly turned from a normal cough into a hacking cough. Then the blood came up, and Chara's indifference turned to worry. "Hey, are you okay? Humans aren't supposed to cough up blood!"

When the coughing subsided the living child stood up and smiled grimly. "I am not, but that is why I am here. I have, in my chest, the cancers of the lung. I am dying. But my people still tell stories of the monsters and their kindness, and we regret not helping them in the War. We learned from the _anisoi_, the non-Cherokee humans, that it would take seven souls to break their cruel barrier. Since I will die soon anyway, I want my death to mean something. I will gladly give my soul for the monsters so that they might go free."

Chara stared at them, their emotions swirling. It wasn't like they hadn't had the same thought and acted on it, but that had resulted in not only their death, but the death of their oldest brother. They didn't want any more monsters to die like that. But-

"You said it would take seven souls? Would those seven souls need to be taken outside the Barrier?" Chara probed.

"No, inside is also possible. Why?" The Cherokee child asked.

Chara's face split in a slow grin. "I think… no, I _know_ that monsters can find a way to store your soul. If Gaster could figure out how to make chocolate grow down here he can definitely figure that out. Then no more monsters have to die trying to get souls on the Surface."

The human smiled slightly, the corner of their mouth quirking up. "That is excellent. I had heard of the monster who brought a corpse to the Surface… was that, perchance, you?"

Chara nodded. "I wanted my brothers and all the monsters to go free. I was old and dying, but the only way I could get Azzy to absorb my soul was to make him think that I wanted to see the flowers in my village one more time. I wanted to see the sun again… I probably shouldn't have made him bring my body."

The child nodded. "That was an error, but an understandable one. So, _Yvwi Usdi_, will you guide me to your monsters so that they can gather my soul?"

Chara nodded, grinning. "I will. Come on, uh… what's your name?"

"Ama," The child said, "It means water in _Tsalagi_, the language of my people."

"I'm Chara. I picked it myself… my birth name is dead to me. My new name is short for character. I wanted something that wasn't male or female but something else," Chara explained.

The child grinned back at them, showing teeth. "Ah. I am Two-spirit myself. It means someone who does not fit as male or female, but as something else. I feel like no gender at all. My mother helped me pick a name that would fit that, and my father proudly announced it to the tribe. I hope your family did the same."

Chara grimaced. "Not my human family, but the monsters did. Gender doesn't mean a lot to them. They had a hard time understanding how I could be treated badly for something they see as normal."

Ama smiled. "That is good, friend Chara. I look forward to the day when my people and monsters may teach the _anisoi_ about that."

Chara grinned, then motioned for the Cherokee child to follow them. "Me too."

They lead Ama to their old house. It looked… the same. The tree still had no leaves and the courtyard was still empty. Chara wasn't sure how long it had been since they died. Hopefully Mom would be able to tell them. They wondered if Azriel was going to be here as a ghost, too. Neither of them were there, though.

From there, Chara led the human through the Underground. It didn't seem like anyone was around, but Chara figured that was because it was night time. They could see lights in a few houses, so the Underground wasn't completely abandoned. That was good to know. The only reason that Chara would want the Underground to be empty was that the monsters had reached the Surface.

Finally they reached the Newer Home. Chara still giggled at Dad's silly name. Ama asked, "For what reason are you laughing, _Yvwi Usdi_?"

Chara looked over their shoulder as they passed through the long hallway that led to the house and answered them. "I was just thinking of this place's name. My Dad is… not very good at naming things. The place where you fell is New Home. The icy place is Snowdin. The wet one is Waterfall. The one with the lava is Hotland, and this? This is Newer Home. Again, Dad really sucks at naming things."

Ama nodded. "There is a city that the _anisoi _call Catoosa. It is a city on a hill, and it's name, in _Tsalagi_, means "on a hill". Most of the places I know have similarly unhelpful names."

Chara giggled again. "That's pretty bad, I have to say. I-"

"Human?" A familiar voice said behind Chara. They turned around and saw their Dad. He was holding Sans and he looked awful. His fur was scraggly, his cheeks were wet with tears, and his clothes were wrinkled. Chara gulped. Something must have really bothered him for him to look like that.

"Dad?" Chara's voice cracked. He didn't seem to hear them or see them. He looked way too scared.

Ama looked between Chara and Asgore, then gulped and stepped forward. Asgore stepped back and Chara floated back. Ama looked… so resigned. So serious. So tired. "Are you the king of Monsterkind?"

Asgore nodded. "I am, my child. Why… why do you ask?"

Ama was interrupted by another of those awful coughing fits. Chara swallowed, seeing the pain on Asgore's face. He'd always been so empathetic. That wasn't always a good thing.

Ama smiled grimly. "I am _Tsalagi_, the ones known as the Cherokee, and I am dying of the cancers of the lung. My people regret not helping you in the war; you were always kind and compassionate, and we are sorry. If you can gather seven souls, you can break the Barrier. I am here to supply the first."

Asgore's face twisted up in even more pain, and his hand spasmed. Chara closed their eyes and ran away. He couldn't see them, and they didn't want to see what was going to happen next.


End file.
